After car hits Thai elephant, animal kills driver

BANGKOK (AP) — A man was killed by a wild elephant after his speeding car hit the animal near a national park in northeastern Thailand, police said Thursday.

Police Lt. Col. Kemchat Paedkaew said the accident occurred at dusk Wednesday on a small road that has signs telling drivers to beware of wild animals that sometimes stray from Khao Yai National Park.

"Elephants don't come out during the day but they start coming out when it gets dark," Kemchat said.

Related: The horrors of elephant poaching

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The horrors of elephant poaching

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The horrors of elephant poaching

MAASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE, KENYA - JANUARY 22: Male elephant rescued by wildlife experts after a crude spear penetrated several feet into his back at the North-Western Maasai Mara National Reserve on January 22, 2017 in Maasai Mara Reserve, South West Kenya.
THIS young male bull elephant was rescued by wildlife experts after a crude spear penetrated several feet into his back. On January 19, the injured bull was reported to Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) immediately flew a KWS Vet, Dr. Dominic Mjele to the Mara Triangle in the North-Western Maasai Mara National Reserve in South West Kenya. After darting the elephant with a sedative, Dr Mjele was able to remove the crude long spear and the wound was thoroughly cleaned and green clay - a natural remedy - was applied alongside antiseptic spray. Within a few minutes the elephant was back on his feet and departed with a short glance back at his rescuers. The elephant was speared by members of the Maasai community with a sharpened steel round bar acting as a spear. DSWT said: The elephant was injured in a case of human-wildlife conflict. This is becoming increasing prevalent in Kenya and across Africa as human settlements and farmland are built on migration routes previously used by elephants and other wild animals. This brings elephants into close contact with humans, often with deadly results. In the past three years, the DSWT has treated more than 110 elephants speared by humans which amounts to nearly one a week, but the threat of human-elephant conflict is growing. DSWT said: Human-elephant conflict is a looming threat, and in places like Kenya where poaching is more or less under control, looks set to be the next issue conservationists must face to secure a future for elephants. But we cant save elephants in the long-term if they have no home in which to live and roam and there is a very real prospect that for every elephant life saved from the clutches of ivory poachers, they could then be hit by a speeding car, killed in a revenge attack by communities for eating their crops or have their young fall down drainage holes or wells. Luckily this particular elephants prognosis is encouraging and he will be monitored over the next few weeks as he recovers.
PHOTOGRAPH BY THE DSWT / Barcroft Images
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UGANDA, AFRICA - UNDATED: A man cares for an elephant's wound, taken in Uganda, Africa.
A VETERINARY team risk their lives to rescue an elephant injured by an infected wound crawling with maggots. Wildlife film producer, Verity White and her team were filming the darting of a giraffe with the Uganda Wildlife Authority Vet Team in Murchison Falls National Park, when they came across the limping elephant. The Uganda Conservation Foundation had recently provided a dedicated veterinary vehicle to the Uganda Wildlife Authority in Murchison Falls as part of measure to tackle the poaching problem.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Verity White / Barcroft Images
London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com -
New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com -
New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com www.barcroftmedia.com (Photo credit should read Verity White / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

A group of elephants, believed to have been killed by poachers, lie dead at a watering hole in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park October 26, 2015. Picture taken October 26, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer TEMPLATE OUT

A Kenya Wildlife Services ranger inspects part of elephant tusks recovered from suspected Kenyan ring-leader of an ivory smuggling gang Feisal Ali Mohamed, also one of the nine most wanted environmental crime fugitives worldwide listed by Interpol, before the judgment on a case in which he had been charged with dealing and possession of 2,152 kg of ivory in Mombasa, Kenya, July 22, 2016. REUTERS/Joseph Okanga

A group of elephants, believed to have been killed by poachers, lie dead at a watering hole in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park October 26, 2015. Picture taken October 26, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer TEMPLATE OUT

Around three tonnes of illegal ivory seized by French customs agents are displayed before being pulverized into dust in Paris February 6, 2014 as part of an Europe's first destruction of a stockpile of the banned elephant tusks. The destruction of the ivory, confiscated over two decades, is intended to send a message to poachers and traffickers and in accordance to the action to the French government to fight poaching of endangered species. REUTERS/Charles Platiau (FRANCE - Tags: CRIME LAW ANIMALS POLITICS)

This picture taken on August 1, 2017 shows an Indonesian forest ranger from the Leuser Conservation displaying animal traps set up by poachers to capture various wildlife including large game such as rhinoceros, elephants, tigers and bears in the Leuser ecosystem rainforest, during a forum in Banda Aceh.
The traps were found and dismantled by rangers on their regular patrols in the last six months. / AFP PHOTO / CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN (Photo credit should read CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/AFP/Getty Images)

UGANDA, AFRICA - UNDATED: A man cares for an elephant's wound, taken in Uganda, Africa.
A VETERINARY team risk their lives to rescue an elephant injured by an infected wound crawling with maggots. Wildlife film producer, Verity White and her team were filming the darting of a giraffe with the Uganda Wildlife Authority Vet Team in Murchison Falls National Park, when they came across the limping elephant. The Uganda Conservation Foundation had recently provided a dedicated veterinary vehicle to the Uganda Wildlife Authority in Murchison Falls as part of measure to tackle the poaching problem.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Verity White / Barcroft Images
London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com -
New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com -
New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com www.barcroftmedia.com (Photo credit should read Verity White / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

A tourist takes a picture of Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) ranger on April 28, 2016 next to some of the illegal stockpiles of elephant tusks stacked up onto pyres at Nairobi's national park, waiting to be burned along with more than a tonne of rhino-horn at what is said to be the biggest stockpile destruction in history.
Kenya on April 30, 2016 will burn approximately 105 tonnes of confiscated ivory, almost all of the country's total stockpile at an event to be attended by several African heads of state, conservation experts, high-profile philanthropists and celebrities at the event which they hope will send a strong anti-poaching message. / AFP / TONY KARUMBA (Photo credit should read TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images)

Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) personnel stack elephant tusks onto pyres in preparation on April 22, 2016 for a historic destruction of illegal ivory and rhino-horn confiscated mostly from poachers in Nairobi's national park.
Kenya on April 30, 2016 will burn approximately 105 tonnes of confiscated ivory, almost all of the country's total stockpile. Several African heads of state, conservation experts, high-profile philanthropists and celebrities are slated to be present at the event which they hope will send a strong anti-poaching message. / AFP / TONY KARUMBA (Photo credit should read TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images)

*** VIDEO AVAILABLE ***
KENYA, RUMURUTI FOREST - JUNE: Helping hands: Simotua was comforted through out the process on June, 2015 in Rumuruti Forest, Kenya.
AN INJURED baby elephant is saved by a heroic rescue team after being caught in on a poacher's snare and attacked with a spear. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) was called to save the orphaned animal, named Simotua, in June, after he had been left to die in Kenya's 15,000 acre Rumuruti Forest. The one year old elephant was suffering from a large spear wound to his skull and had a deadly snare wrapped around his leg both of which were potentially life-threatening. The calf was driven to the local airstrip where he was met by an expert mobile veterinary team who assessed his injuries before a one-hour-long flight. Simotua was then flown 230km to the DSWT orphanage in Nairobi National Park where he received round the clock medical treatment.
PHOTOGRAPH BY THE DSWT / Barcroft Media (Photo credit should read THE DSWT / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

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He said the driver was not from the area and failed to slow down when he encountered the elephant. When the vehicle struck the elephant's back legs, the animal responded by stomping on the car, destroying the engine and killing the driver.

Kemchat says up to two people are killed by elephants each year in areas surrounding the park. The elephant involved in the incident was guided back into the park and is being looked after by officials there, he said.